Photography Books

It's been awhile since we've talked books. So I thought a thread where we can post some of our personal favorites, whether they be collections of photography or instructional books, would be a good idea.

My first favorite: America 24/7

Photos taken during one week, by professionals and amateurs alike. A really amazing collection of photography in a wide range of styles.

Basic Photography by Michael Langford was the book given to me by the seller of my first "real" camera. It is not a book that really enters the digital age, but it provides an excellent base of theoretical knowledge (optics, lenses, etc). I highly recommend it.

One of my favorites is Paris by Night by Brassai. I would also recommend the Masters of Photography series from Aperture, especially Alfred Stieglitz, a personal favorite. The books are inexpensive, but beautifully done.

There are too many to list! This is a book-lovers site you know.. Ah, well, I would say that for technical books The Film Developer's Cookbook is quite good, as is Edge of Darkness. For the work of photographers I like Flora and Edward Weston among others, but the list changes from month to month so it's hard be current. You would have to check my library and the ratings of what I own to get a full idea, but those are perennial favorites.

- Randy

I like the books of Ansel Adams and David Hockney.

I've been slowly reaquainting myself with better film and black and white technique with An Ansel Adams Guide : Basic Techniques of Photography. It's proving to be pretty good reading and has excellent advice on settings, and I suspect on development, though I haven't gotten that far yet.

Mark Morrisroe. I can't believe I'm still the only one here who owns any of his books (or book; he died from AIDS at a pretty young age, so he didn't leave much behind). I love Nan Goldin too; I know her work at first glance just looks like a bunch of snapshots, but she really does know how to tell a story.

Duane Michals is great.

One of my all-time favorites is Witness to History. I don't care if _the_ shot was staged or not. Any Robert Capa book also has to be on my list (same disclaimer RE: Staging).

two of my favourites books (i listed them in the catalog) are 'Infinito' by David Jiménez, spanish photographer, black and white photographs, only photos on this book, no texts, the book itself is a work, not only many photographs together. the images plays with the way we record experiences in our brain, in our memory, and the book has also a play with your own memory as you read it...
and 'Sightwalk' by Gueorgui Pinkhassov, ucranian member of Magnum. this book has only 25 pictures made in Japan, full of colour. the book is printed in a special paper, not white, in a pale grey, brilliant surface as a metal, japanese binding, and other details makes this book quite rounded :)

The list of books I keep coming back to is a long and varied one, the one book however that shines the most in my life is by Robert Adams, "Beauty in Photography: Essays in Defense of Traditional Values" a constant source of guidance and inspiration, his publication "Summer Nights" is a big favourite too

My favorites are anything by Martin Parr, both his photographs and his collections (Boring Postcards are fantastic); Stephen Shore's Uncommon Places, Jeff Brouws's Approaching Nowhere, and anything by the great Lee Friedlander.

Gary Winogrand's 1964 is a favorite of mine. I also like Keri Pickett's work, such as Love in the 90s and Faeries. I also admire Joel Leivick, who published a book, Carrara: The Marble Quarries of Tuscany. I also like the work of Imogen Cunningham and Leo Holub, and my good friend, the late Diana Watters.

Since I'm still analog for the most part, these suggstions touch only on more "traditional" film cameras. I've little to say on the new digital frontier.

For instructional books, one has to start with the five Ansel Adams classics, The Camera, The Negative, The Print, and Polaroid Land Photography, along with Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs.

Minor White wrote the classic The New Zone System Manual regarding the now famous exposure system.

The books of by the late pictorialist era photographer William Mortensen, such as Pictorial Lighting, and Mortensen on the Negative are suprisingly good for their technical explication, even if you adhere strictly to the Ansel Adams cult and find his work dated.

For general photographic technique, I favor Basic Photographic Materials and Processes by Leslie Stroebel.

For the basics on the use of the Large Format Camera and camera movements, see Corrective Photography by Lewis L. Kellsey, and View Camera Techniques by Leslie Stroebel.

I like looking at photo books in general, but I have a special spot for photo books on rock n roll personalities (they combine two of my favorite things in the world!).

I like The Beatles A Private View by Robert Freeman, Rolling Stones: 40 x 20 and Jim Marshall: Proof. =)

#14 I'm responding to an old post, I know, but these are great suggestions. (Yes, I'm still a film user, too!)

Mortensen is among my favorites, yet I've never read his books!

Annie Leibovitz At work

Being a photographer / Yann Arthus Bertrand


(author touchstones apparently not working.)

One of my favourite photo books is Jean Gaumy's Pleine Mer. And I love Bruno Barbey's The Italians.

Terry Hope's book on architectural photography Architecture: Developing Style in Creative Photography (Black and White Photography) is interesting and helpful.

I still shoot film, but not nearly as much as I should.

Cheers.

Bojan

http://www.bojanfurst.com
http://fuerst.my-expressions.com

Besides the seminal book The Americans by Robert Frank, which was the bible for every street photographer for decades, another of my favorite books is the much less known book Sentimental Journey* by the Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. It is a small, wonderful, sad and melancholic book about the death of his wife.

*For whatever reason the Touchstone link doesn't. Therefore here is direct link to book:
http://www.librarything.com/work/7003231

Didn't I say that Rober Frank's The Americans is an important book? That's what the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, is saying:

Quote:
In 1959, the Swiss-born Robert Frank published a modest book of black and white photographs. His pictures were made during several road trips across America in the 1950s and show common people in ordinary situations. They were dismissed at the time, not only for their “muddy exposures, drunken horizons, and general sloppiness,” but because they were perceived as a bitter indictment of American society.

Still, his fellow photographers recognized the tenor of their moment reflected in his work, and the book, The Americans, has long since come to be regarded as a 20th-century masterpiece.
---
Quote:
Now Frank, arguably the most influential living photographer, is about to mark another defining cultural moment. Next week, the exhibition, Looking In: Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans, opens at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That august institution has never before given such comprehensive focus to a single body of work by an individual photographer—nor has it bestowed such a crowning acknowledgment of photographic achievement.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-17/robert-franks-america/...

:-)
I would love to see the show...

Travel & nature by Andy Steel.

Publisher RotoVision's page on the book: http://www.rotovision.com/description.asp?isbn=978-2-940378-39-5

Perfect for your wishlist :-)

The Photography Book by Editors of Phaidon Press is a very inspiring book. Also, here's a very good collection of the best photography books: http://photography.pro

Thanks for this link. It also gave me some ideas about how I would like to do my own web page.

Eric